MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins have added Paul Molitor to their coaching staff, assigning him supervision of the teams base running, bunting, infield instruction and positioning as well as assistance with in-game strategy. Pervis Atkins . This is not some token job for a prominent, popular former player. All of those areas need a lot of work, so Molitor is going to be busy. "Hes certainly got a history and knowledge and a high baseball IQ," general manager Terry Ryan said. "Theres no doubt about that. It fits pretty good here." The hire was announced Tuesday by the Twins, who finished 66-96 for the second straight season after going 63-99 the year before that. "Theres really no part of the game that we cant do better at," Molitor said, adding: "Im going to be able to work on guys who need to have a small-ball game, with the things they can do, with ways to score runs. I think thats kind of a lost art. Guys worry so much about getting on base, but they forget how to score and how to pick up 90 feet. While it wasnt horrible, I think it certainly could be better." Since 2005, Molitor has served as a minor league base running and infield co-ordinator for the organization. The last three of his 21 major league seasons as a player came with the Twins until his retirement in 1998. The 57-year-old grew up in nearby St. Paul, attending the same high school where Joe Mauer later starred and then playing for the University of Minnesota before his professional career was launched with Milwaukee and extended with Toronto. The seven-time All-Star is one of six players in history with at least 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases. Molitor was a candidate to be Minnesotas manager in 2002 after Tom Kelly retired, but he withdrew during the unsettling process during which Major League Baseball tried to eliminate the franchise before being blocked in court. The job went to Ron Gardenhire, who has held it since then and received a new two-year contract last month. All of Gardenhires assistants were brought back, too, so the position for Molitor on staff is new. "I appreciate that hes respected my input in spring training when hes had me come down there as an extra coach those first few weeks the past several years," Molitor said. "Weve talked again often. Its going to be a chance for us to take that kind of to another level in how were going to work together, as me being as part of his staff." Gardenhire neednt look over his shoulder, Ryan said. The idea to hire Molitor was Gardenhires, actually. "Gardy has no reason to worry about his job," Ryan said, adding: "I didnt want to be perceived as hiring Molitor as a manager-in-waiting. Thats not true. Were adding him to our staff to make us better." Molitor didnt dismiss eventual interest in becoming a manager. But he didnt sound ready to think about it. "Im sure therell be some questions regarding that. Theres been a lot of speculation even over the last season about Gardys potential future, and I just dont think that I can really say anything other than this is going to be invaluable for me in terms of getting back into a major league situation and continuing to gain experience and maybe learning more about what I want my future to be," Molitor said. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe tweeted after the news was announced: "Wow, so stoked to see Molitor join our staff! Hes one of the most knowledgeable baseball men Ive ever met." Ryan was glad to hear that. "Thats kind of music to my ears because Im hoping we can get Trevor going. Hes got the capability to be a pretty good player. This year wasnt what we were hoping," Ryan said. NOTES: The Twins announced that closer Glen Perkins had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 1 on the medial meniscus cartilage in his right knee. Hell be ready for spring training. ... Molitor has served three seasons on a major league coaching staff: with the Twins as a bench coach under Kelly in 2000 and 2001 and as hitting coach for Seattle in 2004, the year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Jordan Willis .C. -- Steve Spurrier was much happier about South Carolinas improved performance than about his lastest career milestone. Mike Fink . According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, the New York Rangers winger skated with extras and goalies today. https://www.cheapnfljerseyschina.co/nate-hawkins-jersey-for-sale/ . Virtanen opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period, then gave Canada a two-goal lead with a power-play goal 1:03 into the second. Sweden cut the lead in half when Daniel Muzito Bagenda scored a power-play goal at 10:57 of the second.Tucson, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - Arizonas home winning streak remained intact and the Wildcats regained their standing as the Pac-12 front-runners with a convincing victory over another top-10 opponent on Saturday. T.J. McConnell was nearly perfect from the floor and finished with 16 points and six assists as No. 10 Arizona bested No. 8 Utah 69-51 at McKale Center. McConnell connected on all but two of his 10 shots and made sure the Wildcats (16-2, 4-1 Pac-12) stayed competitive early. Arizonas big men, namely Stanley Johnson, took over after the break. Johnson scored all 18 of his points in the second half and pulled down nine rebounds for a frontcourt that owned a staggering 40-19 edge on the glass and a 34-14 advantage in the paint. Brandon Ashley chipped in with 14 points and eight rebounds as the Wildcats ran their home winning streak to 32 games. Brandon Taylor shot 4-of-7 from behind the arc and totaled 12 points for Utah (14-3, 4-1), which won their previous seven games by an average of 23 points. The Utes jumped out to a 10-2 lead when Delon Wright banked in a 3-pointer and Taylor hit one from roughly 10 feet behind the arc. They were shooting 5-for-7 from the field over the first seven minutes, but went 11-of-34 (32.4 percent) the rest of the way. Conversely, the Wildcats missed six of their first sevenn shots before McConnell going them going with back-to-back jumpers. Scott Gudmundson. . Ashleys strong post move gave Arizona its first lead with under six minutes left in the first half, and McConnell, usually a pass-first guard, capped his 12-point half with a late jumper that sent the hosts into the locker room with a 31-26 advantage. A three-point contest turned into a rout thanks to Arizonas 17-3 flurry in the early stages of the second half. Johnson scored the first nine points in a variety of ways -- a 3-pointer, a tip-in of his own miss, a dunk and two free throws -- and two more free throws from Johnson made it a 52-35 game with under 12 minutes to play. Jordan Loveridge made three 3-pointers over the next five minutes to pull Utah within 57-47, but Arizona answered with the next 11 points to end any chance of a comeback. Six of those points resulted from offensive rebounds, and Ashley highlighted the late surge with a emphatic two-handed dunk. Game Notes Arizona had nearly as many offensive boards (17) as Utah did total rebounds ... The Wildcats managed 18 second-chance points to Utahs three ... The last time Utah was involved in a regular season matchup of top-10 teams was on Dec. 31, 1996 against Wake Forest ... These teams meet again in Utah on Feb. 28. ' ' '